Chris Pye, a master carver, states that any wood can be carved...except
rhubarb. Pine is so readily available its hard to pass up. Advise about
radical grain changes is very sound. What you want is a really dull looking
piece of wood; but....any wood can be carved.
Dave
"Ah10201" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is pine
easy
> to carve?
>
> thanks...
>has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is pine
>easy
>to carve?
pine isn't great to carve, but if what you got is pine, try some. it gets
sticky sometimes tho, and aviod knots. i power carve pine and that works well.
the big hobby stores sell bass blanks that are nice to carve. lots of carving
info on the web. try this site:
http://wwwoodcarver.com/AssortedWebPages/myhome.htm
watch for line wrap.
bob
Endorse the white pine, but with the same caveats. Slicing produces good
cuts without too much difficulty.
Bass is also great, but can be difficult to find, as it's not really used
for a lot of other things, more's the pity.
I think white birch is about the nicest for chip carving. Medium hard,
consistent, and pleasant. Soft maple is similar, but the large proportion
of darker heartwood makes it less desirable.
"Gary" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] (Ah10201) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is
pine easy
> > to carve?
> >
> > thanks...
>
> As with many woods it depends on the variety, I've found most white
> pine to be an excellent carving wood but you still have to be rather
> selective. Avoid any woods that display radical grain changes, the
> boards may be pretty for some other purpose but not carving,
Absolutely, as all those who have contributed to this thread favoring pine
as a medium have mentioned, eastern white (P. strobus), which is of a good,
even consistency, responds well to carving. The original request specified
chip carving, which is another skill set from carving in the round, but does
involve mostly cutting, not gouging.
I find stropping beats soaking. That way I have almost no compressed fibers
to try to re-expand, and they never look right after they've been crushed
once, to my eye.
I occasionally turn eastern white on the lathe, though it's pretty bland
stuff.
<GJP> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] (Conan the Librarian) wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
> > GJP <GJP> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> >
> >> Ever thought of wetting down(spraying) the area you are carving with
> >> a mixture of water and alcohol...you might be surprised at the
> >> results you can achieve.(G)
> >
> > Now that you mention it, that makes sense. I sometimes use a
> > spitcoat of shellac on wood with really difficult grain, and I imagine
> > the same would hold true here. However, I'm not sure it would do
> > anything to help the biggest problem with pine, and that is it is
> > splintery and alternately hard and soft.
> >
> >
> > Chuck Vance
> > Just say (tmPL) FWIW, from some of the responses I've seen in
> > this thread, I should probably clarify that I'm talking about SYP.
>
> Hmmm...applying a spitcoat of shellac is something I would associate with
a
> treatment for a "punky" section in a piece you were carving, to give it
> some stiffness so as to maintain detail.
> I'm not sure what you mean about SYP, is that a species of pine?
> Which leads us to the fact that there is pine and then there is pine.(G)
> Have you ever seen any of the carving done by the woodcarvers of St.Jean
> Port Joli in Quebec...they used pine to a great degree in all there
> carvings.
> Although Basswood is used by a great many carvers today, pine too is used
> with great success.
> I guess that it all depends where it grows and what specie we are talking
> about.(G)
>
> GJP
>
>
Conan the Librarian <[email protected]> schreef
Southern Yellow Pine. It's the common pine species down in this area.
+ + +
Actually a trade group of several species.
There is SYP and then there is SYP
+ + +
> > Which leads us to the fact that there is pine and then there is pine.(G)
> Sure, just like there's rosewood and then there's rosewood. :-)
+ + +
Actually there is THE rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) and the other rosewoods
Pine is much more variable than that, even when limiting pine to Pinus spp.
PvR
[email protected] (Ah10201) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is pine easy
> to carve?
Pine is a royal PIA to carve. It chips, splits, splinters and
dents too easily, and the alternate soft and hard wood of the growth
rings makes it tough to deal with. I did manage to carve sunburst on
an apron for a table I made out of the stuff, but that's because I
found some that had nice tight, almost q-sawn grain. I also did
rope-carved legs on the same piece, and that was tedious as all hell,
and took quite a bit of work with a rasp (and even sandpaper) to get
smoothed out.
The results were worth it, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it
again. You can see a pic of the table at:
http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/swtable2.jpg
Chuck Vance
GJP <GJP> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Ever thought of wetting down(spraying) the area you are carving with a
> mixture of water and alcohol...you might be surprised at the results you
> can achieve.(G)
Now that you mention it, that makes sense. I sometimes use a
spitcoat of shellac on wood with really difficult grain, and I imagine
the same would hold true here. However, I'm not sure it would do
anything to help the biggest problem with pine, and that is it is
splintery and alternately hard and soft.
Chuck Vance
Just say (tmPL) FWIW, from some of the responses I've seen in
this thread, I should probably clarify that I'm talking about SYP.
"Jim" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Real nice work Chuck. It looks like you put your non-fishing time to good
> use!
Thanks, Jim, but that should probably be reversed. :-)
Chuck Vance
Just say (tmPL) Or at least I *try* to put my non-wooddorking
time to good use.
GJP <GJP> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Should have recognized SYP, but first think of Eastern White Pine when Pine
> (EWP)is mentioned.(G)
>
> If you don't have any luck in your web search let me know I can dump a
> picture over in A.B.P.W. of one of the pieces I have from St.Jean Port
> Joli,...just ask?
I found some sites with carvings from that area, and the level of
detail and realism that they achieve is almost scary. :-)
Outstanding stuff.
> Thanks for the reply.
Same here. But now I've decided to just give up carving
altogether. ;-)
Chuck Vance
On 16 Apr 2004 11:12:36 GMT, [email protected] (Minorite) wrote:
>>has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is pine
>>easy
>>to carve?
>
>pine isn't great to carve, but if what you got is pine, try some. it gets
>sticky sometimes tho, and aviod knots. i power carve pine and that works well.
That's the ticket.
Pine is horrible to hand carve but it's great for power carving.
But I guess you can say the same about most woods.
Power carving is the way to go with pine.
I still use my old Ryobi carver.
Problem is my hand is still vibrating in the morning <g> but with good blades it
works well.
> the big hobby stores sell bass blanks that are nice to carve. lots of carving
>info on the web. try this site:
>
>http://wwwoodcarver.com/AssortedWebPages/myhome.htm
>
>watch for line wrap.
>bob
In article <[email protected]>, ah10201
@aol.com says...
> has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is pine easy
> to carve?
>
> thanks...
>
While, I'm not a real carver by any streach of the imagination, I've
found that the growth rings in pine make carving rather tricky, as the
density of the wood is constantly changing.
[email protected] (Conan the Librarian) wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> [email protected] (Ah10201) wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
>
>> has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is
>> pine easy to carve?
>
> Pine is a royal PIA to carve. It chips, splits, splinters and
> dents too easily, and the alternate soft and hard wood of the growth
> rings makes it tough to deal with. I did manage to carve sunburst on
> an apron for a table I made out of the stuff, but that's because I
> found some that had nice tight, almost q-sawn grain. I also did
> rope-carved legs on the same piece, and that was tedious as all hell,
> and took quite a bit of work with a rasp (and even sandpaper) to get
> smoothed out.
>
> The results were worth it, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it
> again. You can see a pic of the table at:
> http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/swtable2.jpg
>
>
> Chuck Vance
Ever thought of wetting down(spraying) the area you are carving with a
mixture of water and alcohol...you might be surprised at the results you
can achieve.(G)
GJP
[email protected] (Conan the Librarian) wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> GJP <GJP> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>> Ever thought of wetting down(spraying) the area you are carving with
>> a mixture of water and alcohol...you might be surprised at the
>> results you can achieve.(G)
>
> Now that you mention it, that makes sense. I sometimes use a
> spitcoat of shellac on wood with really difficult grain, and I imagine
> the same would hold true here. However, I'm not sure it would do
> anything to help the biggest problem with pine, and that is it is
> splintery and alternately hard and soft.
>
>
> Chuck Vance
> Just say (tmPL) FWIW, from some of the responses I've seen in
> this thread, I should probably clarify that I'm talking about SYP.
Hmmm...applying a spitcoat of shellac is something I would associate with a
treatment for a "punky" section in a piece you were carving, to give it
some stiffness so as to maintain detail.
I'm not sure what you mean about SYP, is that a species of pine?
Which leads us to the fact that there is pine and then there is pine.(G)
Have you ever seen any of the carving done by the woodcarvers of St.Jean
Port Joli in Quebec...they used pine to a great degree in all there
carvings.
Although Basswood is used by a great many carvers today, pine too is used
with great success.
I guess that it all depends where it grows and what specie we are talking
about.(G)
GJP
"George" <george@least> wrote in news:[email protected]:
> Absolutely, as all those who have contributed to this thread favoring
> pine as a medium have mentioned, eastern white (P. strobus), which is
> of a good, even consistency, responds well to carving. The original
> request specified chip carving, which is another skill set from
> carving in the round, but does involve mostly cutting, not gouging.
>
> I find stropping beats soaking. That way I have almost no compressed
> fibers to try to re-expand, and they never look right after they've
> been crushed once, to my eye.
>
> I occasionally turn eastern white on the lathe, though it's pretty
> bland stuff.
>
><GJP> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>> [email protected] (Conan the Librarian) wrote in
>> news:[email protected]:
>>
>> > GJP <GJP> wrote in message
>> > news:<[email protected]>...
>> >
>> >> Ever thought of wetting down(spraying) the area you are carving
>> >> with a mixture of water and alcohol...you might be surprised at
>> >> the results you can achieve.(G)
>> >
>> > Now that you mention it, that makes sense. I sometimes use a
>> > spitcoat of shellac on wood with really difficult grain, and I
>> > imagine the same would hold true here. However, I'm not sure it
>> > would do anything to help the biggest problem with pine, and that
>> > is it is splintery and alternately hard and soft.
>> >
>> >
>> > Chuck Vance
>> > Just say (tmPL) FWIW, from some of the responses I've seen in
>> > this thread, I should probably clarify that I'm talking about SYP.
>>
>> Hmmm...applying a spitcoat of shellac is something I would associate
>> with
> a
>> treatment for a "punky" section in a piece you were carving, to give
>> it some stiffness so as to maintain detail.
>> I'm not sure what you mean about SYP, is that a species of pine?
>> Which leads us to the fact that there is pine and then there is
>> pine.(G) Have you ever seen any of the carving done by the
>> woodcarvers of St.Jean Port Joli in Quebec...they used pine to a
>> great degree in all there carvings.
>> Although Basswood is used by a great many carvers today, pine too is
>> used with great success.
>> I guess that it all depends where it grows and what specie we are
>> talking about.(G)
>>
>> GJP
>>
>>
>
>
Only partially correct George...he said and I quote "has anyone ever tried
chip carving pine or any carving in general? is pine easy to carve?"
So carving in general is also a valid subject.(G)
As far as "soaking" , again I believe I used the term wetting with water
and alcohol not soaking...and stropping often, goes without saying when
talking about chip carving, of which I'm well aware of.(G)
Just want to keep the record straight....no argument intended.
GJP
Conan the Librarian <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> GJP wrote:
>
>> Hmmm...applying a spitcoat of shellac is something I would associate
>> with a treatment for a "punky" section in a piece you were carving,
>> to give it some stiffness so as to maintain detail.
>
> That's the way it's used for planing difficult woods, as it
> stiffens
> the wood fibers and seems to help prevent tearout. It seems like it
> might have a good effect for carving too.
>
>> I'm not sure what you mean about SYP, is that a species of pine?
>
> Southern Yellow Pine. It's the common pine species down in this
> area.
>
>> Which leads us to the fact that there is pine and then there is
>> pine.(G)
>
> Sure, just like there's rosewood and then there's rosewood. :-)
>
> Seriously, we get mostly SYP here, and it's quite a bit different
> from the eastern stuff you guys might have access to. SYP has very
> distinct growth rings with variable hardness. It's also heavier and
> tougher than the eastern pines.
>
>> Have you ever seen any of the carving done by the woodcarvers of
>> St.Jean Port Joli in Quebec...they used pine to a great degree in all
>> there carvings.
>
> No, but I will do a web search to see what I can find.
>
>> Although Basswood is used by a great many carvers today, pine too is
>> used with great success.
>> I guess that it all depends where it grows and what specie we are
>> talking about.(G)
>
> Yep. I've got some pine in my shop from Mexico that's called
> "guato
> pine" and it is *very* dense, tight-grained and hard. It's a joy to
> work (much like working maple), but it is the exception.
>
>
> Chuck Vance
Should have recognized SYP, but first think of Eastern White Pine when Pine
(EWP)is mentioned.(G)
If you don't have any luck in your web search let me know I can dump a
picture over in A.B.P.W. of one of the pieces I have from St.Jean Port
Joli,...just ask?
Thanks for the reply.
GJP
[email protected] (Conan the Librarian) wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> GJP <GJP> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>> Should have recognized SYP, but first think of Eastern White Pine
>> when Pine (EWP)is mentioned.(G)
>>
>> If you don't have any luck in your web search let me know I can dump
>> a picture over in A.B.P.W. of one of the pieces I have from St.Jean
>> Port Joli,...just ask?
>
> I found some sites with carvings from that area, and the level of
> detail and realism that they achieve is almost scary. :-)
> Outstanding stuff.
>
>> Thanks for the reply.
>
> Same here. But now I've decided to just give up carving
> altogether. ;-)
>
>
> Chuck Vance
>
Humbling isn't it?(G)
But it does give one a plateau to strive for, of course you could then look
onward to Grinling Gibbons for inspiration.(G)
Thanks again, your comments have been much appreciated.
GJP
"P van Rijckevorsel" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
><GJP> schreef
>> I guess that it all depends where it grows and what specie we are
>> talking
> about.(G)
>
> + + +
> Careful. It is wood (species) not money (specie) that is under
> discussion here. Unless you actually have a tree that grows money?
> PvR
>
Nitpicking, when you get to my age spelling is no longer a big deal, now
survival that can be a problem.(G)
Also check with the SWMBO wether there is such a tree available nearby.
GJP
Real nice work Chuck. It looks like you put your non-fishing time to good
use!
Jim Ray
"Conan the Librarian" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] (Ah10201) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
>
> > has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is
pine easy
> > to carve?
>
> Pine is a royal PIA to carve. It chips, splits, splinters and
> dents too easily, and the alternate soft and hard wood of the growth
> rings makes it tough to deal with. I did manage to carve sunburst on
> an apron for a table I made out of the stuff, but that's because I
> found some that had nice tight, almost q-sawn grain. I also did
> rope-carved legs on the same piece, and that was tedious as all hell,
> and took quite a bit of work with a rasp (and even sandpaper) to get
> smoothed out.
>
> The results were worth it, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it
> again. You can see a pic of the table at:
> http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/swtable2.jpg
>
>
> Chuck Vance
GJP wrote:
> Hmmm...applying a spitcoat of shellac is something I would associate with a
> treatment for a "punky" section in a piece you were carving, to give it
> some stiffness so as to maintain detail.
That's the way it's used for planing difficult woods, as it stiffens
the wood fibers and seems to help prevent tearout. It seems like it
might have a good effect for carving too.
> I'm not sure what you mean about SYP, is that a species of pine?
Southern Yellow Pine. It's the common pine species down in this area.
> Which leads us to the fact that there is pine and then there is pine.(G)
Sure, just like there's rosewood and then there's rosewood. :-)
Seriously, we get mostly SYP here, and it's quite a bit different
from the eastern stuff you guys might have access to. SYP has very
distinct growth rings with variable hardness. It's also heavier and
tougher than the eastern pines.
> Have you ever seen any of the carving done by the woodcarvers of St.Jean
> Port Joli in Quebec...they used pine to a great degree in all there
> carvings.
No, but I will do a web search to see what I can find.
> Although Basswood is used by a great many carvers today, pine too is used
> with great success.
> I guess that it all depends where it grows and what specie we are talking
> about.(G)
Yep. I've got some pine in my shop from Mexico that's called "guato
pine" and it is *very* dense, tight-grained and hard. It's a joy to
work (much like working maple), but it is the exception.
Chuck Vance
[email protected] (Ah10201) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is pine easy
> to carve?
>
> thanks...
As with many woods it depends on the variety, I've found most white
pine to be an excellent carving wood but you still have to be rather
selective. Avoid any woods that display radical grain changes, the
boards may be pretty for some other purpose but not carving, Your
typical Borg pine is yellow pine and does indeed have hard winter
growth rings and very soft summer growth rings. Other good carving
woods are Bass, rather soft, and Western broad leaf maple, medium
hard. Avoid the very hard woods especially for chip carving. Carving
is a great passtime and as with anything else the more you try the
better you get and you'll never stop learning.
Gary
Have to agree with Chuck regarding general carving although I must admit I
have no experience chip carving it. Seems it has very little shear strength
between grain strata therefore any detail either pops off when it is being
carved or due to minor bumps,
so I at least spend half the time regluing pieces back on ....mjh
--
http://members.tripod.com/mikehide2
"Conan the Librarian" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] (Ah10201) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
>
> > has anyone ever tried chip carving pine or any carving in general? is
pine easy
> > to carve?
>
> Pine is a royal PIA to carve. It chips, splits, splinters and
> dents too easily, and the alternate soft and hard wood of the growth
> rings makes it tough to deal with. I did manage to carve sunburst on
> an apron for a table I made out of the stuff, but that's because I
> found some that had nice tight, almost q-sawn grain. I also did
> rope-carved legs on the same piece, and that was tedious as all hell,
> and took quite a bit of work with a rasp (and even sandpaper) to get
> smoothed out.
>
> The results were worth it, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it
> again. You can see a pic of the table at:
> http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/swtable2.jpg
>
>
> Chuck Vance